This account of a journey for which few predicted a happy outcome before or after it began - with struggles through unforgiving terrain, close encounters with hostile animals, and a disastrous camp fire - has turned out to be not only a full-on survival story but also a rare time-capsule of life in Central Africa in the early era of independence. The author shares his enjoyment of a rich variety of people encountered, from astonished children first seeing white faces to great-grandparents with family memories of Victorian explorers.
A fed-up city-dweller's idea of retracing on foot Stanley's 1,200-mile expedition of 1871 originated in his boyhood reading of the American explorer's classic account. Stanley's team had been nearly 200 men; George Tardios's for his equally historic expedition was himself, his wife and a young friend.
A diary-based account of a journey accomplished 40 years ago has had to await the author's thorough physical and mental recovery from it, further years earning a living in Tanzania, and self-reinvention in a changed England.
Sprache
Verlagsort
Market Harborough
Großbritannien
Maße
Höhe: 216 mm
Breite: 138 mm
Dicke: 33 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-83628-257-0 (9781836282570)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
George Tardios was born in London of Greek Cypriot parents. After working as an FE lecturer in English he became something of a rolling stone. On a climbing course in the Lake District he was helped out of a panic attack by his future wife. After his African journey George continued to lead an adventurous life. Extensive travels included escape from the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand; he took up film acting; he had two books of poems published. He died at his home in London in 2024 aged 79.
